Let's Make an MMORPG: A Recipe for Disaster or a Good Idea?

With the growing popularity of free-to-play MMOs there seems to be an over abundance of the same game with a different paint job scheme. World of Warcraft (WoW), The Lord of the Rings Online, Age of Conan, Ever Quest, etc... all fit this stigma in one way or another (in my opinion). Each game does have its various little differences, but nothing that stands out from the crowd of other games in the genre (remember I'm not saying these are bad games). To me its obvious this formula is getting dull and that is why I believe so many of these games have taken a free-to-play approach to survive.